starts right now. i'm ali velshi in for soledad. holiday travel horror. people soaked with snow and winds that will knock you over. the northeast getting the worst of it right now. we are tracking the storm. and back to work in washington with five days to go. president obama comes back to washington to try to hammer out a deal with the senate, and we're hearing it may come down to the final minute of the year. sticky gas pedals costing toyota $1 billion. the company's plan to put sudden acceleration allegations in their past and how you may we able to cash in on it even if you already sold your car. a packed show ahead. congressman steven latourette of ohio, senator richard blumenthal of connecticut, plus the grinch. it's thursday, december 27th.

"starting point" begins right now. well, our starting point, a brutal winter storm battering the northeast and torturing holiday travelers all over the country. here it is on the radar. the system is expected to dump up to two feet of snow on central maine today. six states are under winter storm warnings, pennsylvania, new york, massachusetts, new hampshire, vermont, and of course maine. everyone there could see at least a foot of snow. more than 200,000 customers spanning several states are already without power. more than 1700 flights had to be cancelled yesterday, hundreds more have already been taken off the board this morning and that number is expected to climb. six deaths are being blamed on this system since tuesday, and the threat hasn't passed yet. meteorologist bonnie schneider tracking the storm from the cnn weather center in atlanta. but first inez is live in

syracuse, new york, where she's been -- there's a great deal of snow behind you, inez, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, ali, yeah, it's still snowing here and governor cuomo has asked new yorkers to avoid non-essential travel and here's why. poor visibility and the possibility of ice on the streets. you can see these are the streets of downtown syracuse. plows have been coming by here all morning long, but the snow is still accumulating here. i'm show you some of the accumulation. a foot is expected from this storm but also in the past four days syracuse has had 13 inches of snow from other snowstorms. now, city officials say that this area is actually used to snow. however, the amount of snow in such a short period of time is a challenge, of course, for cleanup efforts and it's been almost two years since syracuse has had a foot of snow all in one shot, ali. >> we'll keep an eye on this with you through the course of the morning. this powerful storm really

rocked the nation's heart land. travel conditions so treacherous the indiana pacers had to postpone last night's home game against the chicago bulls. flying and driving today and the rest of the week will continue to be tough. let's get to meteorologist bonnie schneider who's tracking the system in atlanta. good morning, bonnie. >> good morning, ali. right now we're seeing heavy rain across the new york city metropolitan area and that is impacting travel at this hour. this just in. we have one-hour delays at la guardia in queens. even though the rain isn't as strong in that region, we're getting fierce wind. look at the heavy rain hitting providence and boston and to the north it's all snow. check out the snowfall totals from this storm. almost two feet in illinois. many cities shattered records. we had a record in little rock, arkansas, on christmas day. never in 86 years have they seen so much snow on christmas. the temperatures are brutally cold. ines in syracuse, new york, it was 20 years. the colder air will filter in

and temperatures will plummet down across much of the regions you see here. wind and rain impacting airports. likely to see more delays in philadelphia and washington, and heavy accumulation, a foot or more, all the way across new england. so this is going to impact vermont, maine, new hampshire, upstate new york, mixing in with sleet as time as the low pulls this energy up to the east. you'll be watching for heavy snow in the burlington area. many people might be vacationing and enjoying some skiing at this time in vermont so that's good news. but temperature plummetted in the south. it's only 32 in charlotte and 27 in memphis. so ali, unseasonably cold here in the southeast. this is more like what you'd be experiencing in new york than we would here in atlanta. >> just above freezing in atlanta and in alabama freezing and lower. bonnie, we'll check in with you through the course of the morning. this dangerous storm and it's devastating winds have several states in the south picking up pieces this morning in the cold after getting torn up by tornados.

look at this incredible surveillance video from cameras at a walgreens drugstore in mobile, alabama. vehicles getting tossed around like match boxes in the parking lot. >> i've never been in a war zone but i'm sure this is what it's looks like. here's a bunch of tin, a bunch of stuff lifted off the buildings in our parking lot. >> tornados also ripped up parts of pearl river county, mississippi. two dozen homes there were damaged or destroyed and the aleast 25 people were hurt. now, for those of you getting back into your routine this morning, let me bring you up to date on the fiscal cliff. we're now just five days away from going over the fiscal cliff. happy new year. here's what you might have missed. president obama left hawaii early to get back to washington today. the senate is also coming back from christmas vacation today to work on a deal. now, sources tell us majority leader harry reid will push a scaled-back version of the fiscal cliff package that

president obama laid out on friday, which moved the tax hike needle to $400,000. no word yet on when the house of representatives might come back, but democrats say the only hope we have of something getting through the house, the senate and the white house may be a very last-minute deal. cnn radio's lisa is following developments on capitol hill right now. the ball is in senate majority leader harry reid's court it would seem right now, lisa. >> that's right. harry reid and the senate seem to be the only game in town right now with the senate returning today. we also know from sources, ali, that over this christmas break there were no conversations between the president and top-level republicans. sources from both parties are telling us they are watching the senate, especially the democratic leadership in the senate. we also know yesterday house republicans came out with a statement saying that he will act only after the u.s. senate acts. we're not sure what the senate will do, as you say, we're

expecting that smaller deal. what exactly will they vote on? perhaps something that will erase tax hikes for most but not all americans. there could be some money in there for unemployment benefits. they're cobbling all of that together today. all eyes again on the senate, as you say. an let's look at what's going to happen today. 10:00 a.m., that's when the senate comes into session, 10:00 a.m. 11:30 is when president obama returns from hawaii. so we expect many conversations after the president returns. then we have those five days, ali, as you say, until we go over the fiscal cliff. ali, one other number, six days until the markets open after the fiscal cliff and i'll throw a second number, one week until the new congress begins, so they are hard up against some big deadlines. >> the market implication is important because markets have done very, very well this year, lisa, and there's some suggestion if congress doesn't get it together before the new year, markets may force them to do so. we'll be talking more about that

later in the show. lisa, thanks so much. we'll check in with you later. piling on the concerns, treasury secretary tim geithner has warned congress hat u.s. will reach its debt ceiling on monday. that is when the government reaches its legal borrowing limit. now, this could pose a bigger threat to the nation's credit rating than the fiscal cliff. treasury can keep the government operating for a few weeks using emergency measures, but congress needs to act on this too to avoid a full-blown debt crisis. alina cho. joins us with the ret of the top stories. former president george h.w. bush remains in intensive care in a houston hospital with an elevated fever. he is on a liquid diet an his condition is listed as guarded. his spokesman quotes him as saying i'm determined not to be dprumpy with all of this. toyota has agreed to pay up in a major way, $1.1 billion to

settle a class action suit over sudden acceleration issues. under the deal toyota will install a brake override system in effective cars. it will also set up a fund of $250 million for former toyota owners who sold their cars from september of 2009 through all of 2010. that money would compensate owners for their car's reduced value because of bad publicity. also toyota's attorneys say a separate fund of $250 million will be set up to compensate current owners whose cars aren't eligible for the brake override system. late senator daniel inouye's successor will be sworn in later today. hawaii governor kneel abercrombie appointed his lieutenant governor, brian schatz to fill the seat. a white house official says he's actually flying to d.c. with president obama. abercrombie wa widely expected to appoint a congresswoman to take over before he died. inouye named her as his preferred successor.

supreme court justice sonia sotomayor refusing to block the contraceptives mandate in president obama's health care law. let me explain this. two companies, hobby lobby arts and crafts stoerds and mardell christian bookstores argue that requiring their group's health care plans to cover contraception violates their religious beliefs. sotomayor who hears emergency appeals said the companies didn't qualify for an injunction while they challenged the requirement in court. she did not rule on the merits of the company's religious-based claims just yet. we've told you about those long delays at the airports thanks to this monumental winter storm. well, in dallas get a load of this. cnn affiliate wfaa reports that one american airlines flight sat stranded at the gate for nearly five hours. one passenger reportedly said the airline told them they could get off, but at the same time warned them they could be leaving at any minute so nobody knew what to do. now listen to the pilot's apology to his passengers.

>> it's beyond reproach. i have no words to tell you how sorry i am for all of this. decisions are being made way above our heads by people that obviously in my humble opinion don't have a clue what they're doing. >> american airlines said operating safely was their focus but after five hours on the tarmac, i probably would have gotten up and started cheering when that pilot said that. good for him. >> i think it makes all the difference in the world when the crew and the pilot feel like they're on your side and stuck in the same thing. >> there's no excuse for five hours on the tarmac. i get the weather, i get it. >> it's ridiculous. great to see you, as always. coming up ahead on "starting point" the senate is back to work in washington today to figure out an 11th-hour deal on the fiscal cliff, but what about the house, which punted on boehner's plan b. house congressman steve

latourette, by the way someone who has repudiated grover norquist's pledge joins us next. and mark zuckerberg's sister confused about facebook's privacy settings. we'll have the details of that ahead.

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president obama and the senate return to washington today after vacation. they only have five days to act to avoid the fiscal cliff. here's what happens if we go over the fiscal cliff. all the bush tax cuts, all of them will expire with taxes going up an average of $1600 per household. the payroll tax holiday also expires. that means the tax burden will go up an average $z700 per household extra. extended unemployment benefits expire so collection shrinks from 93 weeks to 26 weeks. the medicare doc fix expires, that means a 27% cut in physician payments. the alternative minimum tax expands to 27 million more americans and obama care taxes

hit, meaning a 0.9% jump in the medicare payroll tax for those earning $200,000 or more. but what about the house of representatives? they left town after republicans failed to bring a vote on their own plan b last week. ohio republican congressman steve latourette seems kpas rat -- kpas rated about all of this. you're on your way out and you repudiated the norquist pledge which you signed back in 1994. tell me why? >> well, i repudiated it because, listen, it's not 1994 anymore. the world has moved on. we have the euro, we've had september 11th, a lot of things have happened. and quite frankly, this calls for a big solution. it calls for a solution that nobody yet has proposed seriously and that is everything needs to be on the table. that means revenues, it means spending cuts, it means entitlement reform.

until somebody actually acts on what everybody in this town knows what needs to be done, this is going to be a huge problem. >> we are dangerously close to the fiscal cliff. now, in all fairness, not all of it hits on new year's day but some of it does. the white house, we have a white house source who has said this. let me just read this to you. it says we believe very strongly a reasonable package can get majorities in both houses. the only thing that would prevent it is if senator mcconnell and speaker boehner don't cooperate. this is from the white house yesterday. do you believe that to be the case? >> no, i don't believe that to be the case. listen, a year ago august when the president was negotiating with the speaker, they were very close to the big deal that needs to be struck. and this isn't a one party or a one house problem. this is leaders of both parties and all branches of the government are not willing to make the deal that they know they have to make, and everybody wants their stuff but doesn't want to give up, you know, what they don't want to give up. >> you know, we're showing

pictures right now of john boehner and president obama. john boehner from your state of ohio. there are a lot of people that say if the deal were between these two guys, it would be made. the problem is john boehner can't agree to something with president obama and then take it back to his own party. >> well, and vice versa. a year ago august the president couldn't agree to the deal he needed another $400 billion in revenue. look, if the president and senator reid and john boehner all said to me today it's written, let's put simpson-bowles on the floor, i guarantee you given the urgency we could cobble together something to solve this problem but nobody is willing to pull the trigger. everybody wants to play the blame game. this blame game is about to put us over the edge. >> the problem, of course, which you don't personally face because you didn't run for this new congress is a poll that we have that was taken very recently that says -- we asked who would be more responsible if the fiscal cliff occurs. 48% of respondents say the gop

in congress. 37% blame -- would blame president obama and 11% blame both. so there's a political reality to the fact that the gop is stuck between a rock and a hard place. they'll get blamed if it happens and they'll get blamed if they vote for anything that looks like a tax increase. >> listen, the republican party gets blamed if it's sunny outside. so i'm not really worried about that and neither should people be. but you bring up the point, this should not be above who suffers in the polls. this should be about fixing the united states of america and, you know what, people need to be willing to take a vote even if it means they don't come back. >> yeah, well that's the problem, right? you and i talked about this before. we're in constant campaign mode. a compromise would require that both parties, all parties involved actually pay some price, that it costs somebody something. what is the specific problem, though, on the republican side in terms of the lack of

compromise? again, i want to show you the same poll that we did on december 17th and 18th asking about whether the republican party is too extreme. 53% say the republican party is too extreme. excuse me, 53% say they're too extreme. we've done this poll before. in 2012 it was 36%. in 2004 it was 34%. back in 2000 only 33%. so what's happened? is the republican party too extreme and governed by its tea party members or is there some other problem that's making americans think that's the case? >> i think it's a combination of all factors. but here's the deal. republicans and the very conservative republicans that i serve with i think correctly point to the fact that the taxes always go up and the spending reductions never occur. now that's why this package needs to be put together. i will tell you that if you did the three to one balanced approach that the president of the united states is talking about, you could get 120 republicans in the house to

support it, but the president sadly has never put those three to one spending reductions in written form that i'm aware of. >> details are missing on all sides in this one. congressman latourette, thanks for talking to us again. ahead on "starting point" do facebook's privacy settings have you confused? it turns out not even mark zuckerberg's sister understands them. that story next. our "starting point" team is headed in. look at them. big show coming up. through diet and exercise, alli can help you lose one more by blocking some of the fat you eat. let's fight fat with alli. ♪ i get congested. but now, with zyrtec-d®, i have the proven allergy relief of zyrtec®, plus a powerful decongestant. zyrtec-d® lets me breath freer, so i can love the air. [ male announcer ] zyrtec-d®. behind the pharmacy counter. no prescription needed.

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welcome back to "starting point." today's team ron brownstein, will cane and roland martin, we're keeping you an available

spot for him. >> empty chair. >> roland has been dieting. you can't even see him. if you've ever been confused by facebook's privacy settings, you are not alone. even mark zuckerberg's sister might be after a private family photo she posted on facebook went public. she is the former marketing director of facebook and she posted this photo of her family. >> that's her. >> there we go. it includes facebook ceo mark zuckerberg, someone who wasn't supposed to see it saw it because she was friends with someone else who was tagged in it and it was retweeted in the aftermath. an angry response that included this line, it's not about privacy settings, it's about human decency. >> talk about six degrees of separation. you had the chain of events there. >> someone who saw someone whose friend saw it who posted it? welcome to the internet. >> the increasing reality is you're assuming that anything

that can be seen will be seen. >> right. >> and both company policy and government policy are way behind what the privacy issues that are being raised. >> i like randi a lot and i think the stories that she was confused about whether or not that was the right privacy setting. i am too from time to time. >> i'm always confused by how facebook works. i can barely post. >> i've got to be honest, i think i might be the youngest at this table. >> oh! >> i'm just saying. >> i am not well versed in facebook privacy settings. you really know i only want so many people to see this. >> it's so confusing. i always think that you have to post the photo and then you can see but there's all this tagging going on that's all confusing. >> how about this. it's a truism that everyone has accepted. you put it on the internet, it's not there for everyone. >> it's a moving target because everyone is living more in public than ever before but yet they have certain expectations about how far that extends. >> ron, i'm not listening to you because i can't believe he said he's the youngest.

>> you point out you're the youngest without evidence? >> can i say something? i'm a truth teller. >> i'm way younger than will cane. coming up ahead on "starting point" -- i'm 27. is army teachers in schools the right way to prevent another tragedy like newtown? one state is seriously considering the move this morning. we'll tell you about that. and tim tebow firing back, furious about people calling him a bad teammate. hear what he has to say after being snubbed for the starting quarterback job. any way you want. fully customize it for your trading process -- from thought to trade, on every screen. and all in real time. which makes it just like having your own trading floor, right at your fingertips. [ rodger ] at scottrade, seven dollar trades are just the start. try our easy-to-use scottrader streaming quotes. it's another reason more investors are saying... [ all ] i'm with scottrade.

welcome back to "starting point." those are my socks. >> there you go! >> you know what, those are morning socks. they compete very closely with roland's tie. i don't know if you can zeroland martin's tie. he has a beautiful tie on and an entire bird in his pocket. >> trust me, i personally think ron brownstein needs -- come on,

right here, baby. >> is that a flower? >> am i allergic to this? >> wow. >> this totally changes ron's whole look. >> we've gone over an entirely new -- we've got a "start point" cliff we just went over. >> you need some color over here. >> now we're making color jokes about will cain. before we get to all of that, let's get some news in here. the beautiful alina cho. >> you expect me to do the news right now? good morning. good morning, gentlemen, and lady. good morning, everyone. six states from pennsylvania to maine getting slammed by that massive winter storm. up to two feet of snow in the forecast for central maine. more than 1700 flights had to be cancelled yesterday because of the weather. and if you have holiday travel plans today, expect more of the same. nelson mandela out of the hospital but he will keep getting medical treatment at home. south africa's former president

had a rough december, a lung infection and gallstone surgery. mandela is 94 years old. he has not appeared in public in more than two years. so many gifts have poured into newtown, connecticut, that officials are now asking people to stop sending them, at least for now. newtown has been swamped with toys, cards and flowers ever since the school shootings. community leaders say they're grateful for the support and they will soon talk about the best ways to help the town. in the wake of the newtown tragedy, arizona's attorney general is proposing a plan to arm one educator in each school. he told a phoenix tv station it's a compromise between two extremes. >> on the one hand you have people proposing that any teacher wants to bring a gun to school. i think that would create more danger than it would solve and i'm opposed to that. you have other people who don't want to do anything as far as defense in the schools and i think we could regret that if there were another incident that might have been prevented. >> surely a big debate about that.

under the plan each public school would designate one person to keep the gun in a secure, locked location. it would be a voluntary program. state law would need to be amended before that plan can move forward. customers at starbucks this morning reacting to ceo howard schultz's plan telling workers in the washington, d.c., stores to write the words "come together" on coffee cups. >> "come together." a nice beatles quote there. i think it's kind of a cool idea, but i -- you know, i don't know that the politicians really care. >> i think it means that people are basically tired that congress can't come to a compromise or actually agree on anything, if we're talking about something as huge as sdp that's going to affect taxes that affect everybody else in the united states, it's indicative of the kind of deadlock that we're at in the system right now. >> it's all about the fiscal cliff, guys. schultz says this is a way to,

quote, send our elected officials a respectful but potent message. interesting way to do it. >> the problem with the starbucks, they'll cut a deal. let's talk about sports, shall we? call him a bad quarterback but do not call him a bad teammate. tim tebow firing back after a report that said he asked to sit out some offensive plays on sunday after being snubbed for the jets starting quarterback job. espn says tebow was so upset with the perception that he quit on the team that it dampened his christmas. as for tebow, he will likely be out of new york by next year, headed to presumably the jacksonville jaguars, his home team. but you know what this is? world's smallest violin. you think i feel sorry for him? >> especially with $5 million after being traded from denver. come on, tim, you're terrible. >> oh! >> he's got a lot to say. >> back to the dinner topic right now. as we have told you, president obama lands in washington today,

back from hawaii to take part in negotiations over the f is cal cliff, but it seems increasingly unlikely that we are going to have a plan that congress can vote on before january 1st. it is just five days away. by the way that budget mess that got us into the fiscal cliff situation in the first place, the debt ceiling, remember that in august of 2010, it's back, and treasury secretary tim geithner says we're about to hit it monday in fact. doreen is president of a brokerage firm here in new york and a member. new york stock exchange. doreen, think back, september 30th of 2008. t.a.r.p. was supposed to be done that day, it didn't get cdone. the dow dropped 770 points. by that friday the deal was done. markets may be the last place to have influence here. >> well, i'm not sure about that. i think we saw after the election you saw a 1,000-point

drop in the dow right away and i think that was in anticipation of what we think is going to happen. i think it was fairly obvious then that we were not going to get a deal here out of washington and unfortunately it's even more obvious today. >> so markets are already pricing this in. come january 1, no surprise you're saying? >> while you all speak, let's put up a chart of what the s&p 500, which is what many of your 401(k)s may look like has done this year. in fact just look at that extreme right edge where you see this drop in the last few days. this thing is up 12, almost 13% this year. not a bad year. >> no, it's not a bad year but it's a huge disconnect between reality and what's going on in the market. people use the markets very differently than they used to. there are a lot more -- a lot more money is going into short-term throughs like etfs and options. so i think there's a different market structure and a different way people are using the markets. >> your view is that the market will not be the enforcer of last resort.

if the two sides cannot make a deal, we go over the cliff in january, there will not be a dramatic market reaction that will force them to reconsider or do you think there will be? >> oh, i think there will be, but maybe not as dramatic as you might expect. >> but congress, though, also operates based upon public perception. what happens is when the markets drop all of a sudden there's intense media coverage, people look at their savings and go oh, my god, what happened. pressure then goes on them. so the public perception drives their action as well. >> public perception is also that the market is going up so the economy is good. that's not so. the economy is not good. the underlying fundamentals are not good. people are taking money out of mutual funds and putting them into other places, into housing, into metals, into commodities, all into different places. so the market is being driven by professional traders more so than it is by investors. >> can i get some clarity. would you define for me dramatic. >> 2500 points for the dow.

for the dow i would say is dramatic, 2500 points in the dow. >> you do not expect that. >> i do not expect that. >> that's catastrophic, that's not dramatic, that's can the strau -- catastrophic. >> how big a difference would a deal make? if there is a deal, how much of a boost is that for the economy? >> i'm not sure that it's a huge boost. i think it will be a continuing rise and you'll see a floor. i don't think you're going to see this huge spike. you might day one but it's not going to hold. >> for all of congress messing us around, we're in a very good economy. because of natural gas, because of oil, because of housing and maybe somewhere along the line we might build some stwra stwrurkt, we're in a good place. >> i'm interested in what you think about this bank of america michelle mier talking about a bungee jump over the cliff. we'll go over the cliff and bounce right back because there will be an easier vote on the other side. what do you think about that? >> i think it depends on the

debt ceiling. that's coming up in february. there's a bunch of events that could back-to-back throw us in one direction in a very bad way. >> geithner came out and said we hit the debt ceiling on monday but they can fiddle with things and pay some things and he may be stretching it out. >> they seem to be fiddling with everything these days. >> i want to ask you this question. is it worth pulling your money out, if you're the average investor, pulling your money out of the market now and putting it back after the situation is resolved? >> you mean today? >> yes, correct. pulling it out today or tomorrow. >> well, i think a lot of people did that. i think that's what the 1,000-point drop after the election was about. i think we've had a huge -- we're almost back to where we started pre-2008 so there are a lot of people that can't afford to have this happen again and they have been slowly taking their money out and trying to reap some of the profits that they were getting back, not that there are profits. >> so much of our economy is driven by consumer confidence. you take this action and go over the cliff, that directly impacts

the confidence that people have in markets, in what's going to happen in the future. >> you're making the assumption that we have confidence. we don't have any confidence. recently -- >> our confidence has improved. >> recently it has dropped again, though. recently it has dropped again. >> but it was higher than it was 12 months ago. >> well, yeah. that wasn't hard to do. >> i'm saying that's the whole point. confidence goes up. >> well, yeah, everything goes up from the bottom. there's nowhere else to go. >> you can go down now. you can go down. >> i want to erremind people wh are watching this, if you want to pull your money out and investing it afterwards, there are some tax implications. >> capital gains taxes are going up. >> there you go. thank you, doreen. great to see you. great conversation. coming up ahead on "starting point" an app called make me asian is causing a big uproar this morning, despite the fact that will downloaded it. the creator says it's all for fun, but is it racist?

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welcome back to "starting point." 44 minutes after the hour. a quick check of your top stories. rescuers are racing to save a giant and clearly very sick beached whale off breezy point in queens, new york. it is believed to be a female humpback. experts say the likelihood of it surviving aren't good. the whale appears to be very skinny and also very weak. los angeles officials say the city's gun buyback brought in more weapons than last year. the mayor moved the annual event from mother's day to yesterday in the wake of connecticut school shootings. people exchanged their guns for up to $200 worth of grocery gore gift cards. a new app available for

download on google play has some asian americans outraged. take a look at this. it's called make me asian and it lets users change the way they look by reshaping their eyes or adding fu manchu mustaches and rice paddy hats to their picture. google says it's a fun app that can make you look chinese, japanese or korean. but other groups say it's racist. google tells cnn they will pull the app if they determine it violates policies against hate speech. i want to know how that got through in the first place? >> i did make a comment that will had downloaded the app. will has nothing to do with this. i was teasing will. >> thank you. thank you. >> just to be clear. >> we were making the reference of you going to the south during the election campaign putting on a cowboy hat and will joking with you -- >> he thought i might be mocking folks. no, i was just getting into it like i thought that was fun. will does not want to get baited into this conversation. >> you know what's

interesting -- >> you felt that i was mocking people. >> you wore a texas longhorn t shirlt. that was offensive to me as your friend being an aggie. people say it's racist and then you say offensive. i think we make a mistake when you go all the way and say it's either racist or not racist. it could be offensive to some and fun to others. that's the mistake that we make whenever these sort of topics come up. >> you were pointing out, will, it's just bad taste. >> but i think the person with the most perspective on this is alina and you say you did find it offensive or did you say racist? >> i find it offensive. i mean i find it a bit racist. i think that if -- i think the bottom line is this, that it plays into stereotypes. you put a rice paddy hat on somebody, i think it plays into stereotyping. >> so what if the app just changed features? >> i was going to say that. >> still, you're still dealing with the stereotype. >> i agree. >> but here's the deal. you have apps that also change

your features, say, okay, this is how you're going to look the as an old person. >> this is if you were 50 pounds heavier or skinnier. >> i think i would have less of a problem with that. i'd have less of a problem with that. >> there is a make me indian app as well. >> it makes me feel a little bit uncomfortable, to be honest with you. >> the assumption is there are certain characteristics that make you look ex. >> so how about this here. you get the michael jackson black or white video -- >> not everybody fits that. >> michael jackson video black or white where literally there are people who are white and they then went to black. was that offensive? >> that's an interesting conversation. undecided. the jury will be back on this one later. coming up ahead on "starting point" "the devil wears prada" meets washington, d.c. alina is all excited. >> that was great. >> we're talking about a juicy new novel about a young girl

working for a demanding new senator. the authors of "capitol hell" up next. [ male announcer ] it's that time of year again. time for citi price rewind. because your daughter really wants that pink castle thing. and you really don't want to pay more than you have to. only citi price rewind automatically searches for the lowest price. and if it finds one, you get refunded the difference. just use your citi card and register your purchase online. have a super sparkly day! ok. [ male announcer ] now all you need is a magic carriage. citi price rewind. start saving at citi.com/pricerewind.

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okay so they're calling it the devil wears prada meets washington d.c. >> hello. >> a young naive girl goes to work for a demanding boss and gets in way over her head, except this time the young girl is working for a newly elected senator who is a rising political star. that's the story of a new novel dishing about life in d.c., the authors of "capitol hell." >> great title. >> excellent. our two former staffers who worked for former republican senator norm coleman of

minnesota, alicia long and james jordan join us. is this will coleman? >> it's a fictional spin, a senator from minnesota who runs for president. >> walter mondale. i've got a lovely mlk funeral home fans using capitol hell. >> i didn't hear an absolute for sure no, how much of the book is real about the stuff that you describe is real or at least based on a lot of real isn't it. >> we like to say a good girl never kisses and tells but we will see we both worked on the hill for a number of years and had tons of friends who did the same so we picked and pulled a bunch of different stories. >> what is the most important thing you learned about capitol hill that you did not know when you got there? >> for me number one which i think will come in handy is always wear flats when walking because the high heels get stuck in the sidewalks.

>> the devil wears prada, that place has no fashion whatsoever. come on seriously it has none, khaki pants, blue blazers. >> we tried to bring in pink and funky funk color. >> alison was the only one on the hill hot. >> here is a quote from the book, there's a story where a young staffer alison is on a date and gets an urgent call from the senator she's working for and the senator says, i need you to put my laundry in the dryer before it molds over the weekend ordered the senator, do it tonight and make you use extra dryer sheets. i don't like static cling. >> who likes static cling? no one likes static cling. >> to help you out i know some members of congress, male and female let's say who have terrible reputations, characters barkley, terrible reputations web it comes to using the staff. does that happen? >> that kind of stuff i think

happens all the time. you'll see staffers walk in, dogs are on the capitol complex. >> carrying purses around. >> i think a lot of people don't realize, we wanted to capitalize on the tasks. >> what's the worst, dealing with the spouse, come on, out with it. >> you get asked interesting requests. staffers, fellow colleagues might not be there for a reason. we came from a campaign because we believed in minnesota, maybe folks are looking at their reputation versus everything else. >> that was a potomac two-step like that. you see how she danced around that question. >> look i know why people bought "the devil wears prada." they got behind the scenes stuff there. you're saying it's not about norm coleman. what percentage of your book is real, what percentage is fiction? >> i would say it's hard to give, to quantify. some takes pieces of things that are true and some of it is

completely made up so i will say this, part of the fun is reading the book and trying to figure out who you think you recognize in the book and what traits do you think you see. >> the piece of advice that someone who wants to go to work on capitol hill would get out of the book. >> do it until you're 30. we're extremely thankful to senator coleman for giving us that opportunity to learn and to serve but do it 'til you're 30. >> have you spoke on it senator coleman since the book? >> yes. >> has he read it? >> i don't know if he's read it or not. >> i know norm coleman, he's a friend of mine. norm coleman is no wintower. >> if you know norm coleman tell him to call us and tell us whether you've read the book. >> we should tell you jane is getting married on new year's

eve, a fiscal cliff wedding. >> yes, new year's eve, back stage is my 14-year-old future stepdaughter stephanie, counting down, 48 hours. >> i'm in the bridesmaids. >> welcome to "tarting point" the loveboat edition. the fiscal cliff is falling into the hands of the senate after the house walks away with no deal. can the senate do any better? connecticut senator richard blumenthal is with us at the top of the hour plus the airline pilot caught on tape ripping his bosses as' poll jizs to passengers. you're going to want to hear this and probably applaud. now with a fancy coating that gives you a burst of wildberry flavor. now why make a flavored heartburn pill? because this is america. and we don't just make things you want, we make things you didn't even know you wanted. like a spoon fork. spray cheese. and jeans made out of sweatpants.

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a good morning. i'm ali velshi in for soledad. holiday travel horror. people soaked with snow and winds that will knock you over.

the northeast getting the worst of it right now. we are tracking the storm and back to washington with five days to go, president obama returns to d.c. to hammer out a deal with the senate, but there may be another problem, a more threatening problem to deal with before the new year, and he's a mean one, no, not roland martin, the grinch. >> that's will, else' the grinch. >> that might be, from the new musical. >> look at him. >> will, go outside and get your costume on. >> it is thursday, december 27th, "starting point" begins right now. all right, row manned martin joins us, the host of "washington watch." "washington watch with roland martin" a little hot this morning. ron brownstein is the editorial director at "national journal" will cain in addition to playing the grinch as a conservative

holding up the fiscal cliff deal is also an analyst for the blaze. >> he's a ball of fire this morning. >> our "starting point" before we get to all of that is torture for holiday travelers as a powerful winter storm smothers the northeast. pennsylvania, new york, massachusetts, new hampshire, vermont and maine are under winter storm warnings. by tomorrow new englanders could be buried under 18 inches of snow or more and over 200,000 customers in alabama and arkansas are already without power as the storm's violent winds are sure to leave a lot more people in the dark by the end of the day. over 1,700 flights had to be canceled yesterday, over 200 have already been taken off the board this morning. six deaths being blamed on the system since tuesday and the threat is far from over. ines is live in new york where it continues to come down. >> reporter: yes, that's right. it's continuing to come down but it's lighter than what we've seen in the last couple of hours

and i'm in downtown syracuse. plows have come through this area and cars have been coming down through this area. you can see some slush on the roadway, and what you're also seeing is accumulation from some previous storms, and the last four days, syracuse has gotten 13 inches of snow, and this snowstorm is expected to leave about a foot of snow, so this is what you're seeing on the ground here. officials say that syracuse is actually used to getting a lot of snow. there are a lot of snow resorts in the area as well, so they actually welcome this type of weather, but for cleaning the streets, that's a different story because it's a lot of snow in a short amount of time. one thing that is helping them is the fact that this is a holiday week, so this is a nightmare for air travelers, and on the streets as well, but the fact is there's no schools open this week and a lot of offices are naturally closed, so that's certainly aleve nates the problem on the streets, ali. >> ines, we'll stay with you, ines ferre in syracuse.

in washington we're five days from going over the fiscal cliff. president obama left hawaii early to be back in washington today. the senate is also come back from christmas vacation to work on a deal. sources tell us that majority leader harry reid will push a scaled back version of the fiscal cliff package that president obama laid out late last week and no word yet on when the house might come back. democrats say the only hope we have of something getting through the house, the senate, and the white house may be a last-minute deal. cnn radio's lisa desjardins is on capitol hill. the big question is how a deal gets done. >> it is possible for a deal to be done before january 1st. it is not easy though for a couple of reasons. one the house has a 72-hour rule, legislation needs to be presented to the public for 72 hours before they vote but you know how that works, ali, they can get around that. they have in the past voted around that rule.

the senate has filibuster problems potentially, sometimes it can take up to a week to get through the several different votes that are needed to overcome a filibuster, but if there's no filibuster and if the house decides not to deploy that 72-hour rule, they still could get a deal done in these next five days. one last time line problem, ali, the house we know has told its members they will have at least 48 hours notice before they come back to washington. today's thursday, they have not given that notice yet so the soonest that the house could come back to deal with this issue would be saturday. ali? >> what happens if we go over the cliff? there's some logistical issues. this becomes problematic. >> let's get down to what people want to know. we are getting close to the cliff and a lot of people in washington think we may go over it. here is what we know will happen. january 1st, tax rates go up for most every american. logistically that's a problem for payroll companies because they have to decide are they going to change what they

withhold from our paychecks january 1st or keep with the old rates. for now it seems like they'll keep with the old rates and medicare a pay cut could go into effect in the middle of january for medicare doctors, unemployment starting december 29th, ali, that's when we'll see the benefits start to be cut. >> most benefits are 26 weeks. there was a federal emergency extension, took it to 79 or 99 weeks, that stops immediately. lisa desjardins covering this for us in washington. thanks. piling on the concerns, treasury secretary tim geithner warned congress the u.s. will reach its debt ceiling on monday, when the government reaches its legal borrowing limit and further payments cannot be made. treasury can keep the government operating for a few weeks using emergency measures but congress needs to act on this, too, to avoid a full blown debt crisis the sort of which we almost saw in august of 2011.

in a couple of minutes we'll talk to connecticut senator richard blumenthal about this big mess in d.c. first alina has the rest of today's top stories. >> good morning. we have this just in to cnn, getting word of a plane skidding off a runway, happened at macarthur airport in islip, new york. news 12 long island southwest flight 4695 headed to tampa, florida. 129 passengers and five crew members on board. no injuries reported. passengers are being bussed back to the terminal presumably and hopefully getting on another flight soon. growing concern about the health of former president george h.w. bush, he was moved into the intensive care unit of his houston hospital on sunday because of an elevated fever and apparently it is not breaking. the nation's 41st president is on a liquid diet and his condition is listed as guarded. toyota has agreed to pay a $1.1 billion settlement to settle a class action suit over sudden acceleration issues.

under the deal, toyota will install a brake override system in affected cars. it will also set up a fund of $250 million to compensate former owners for their car's reduced value due to all of that bad publicity. late senator daniel inouye's successor will be sworn in later today, hawaii governor neil abercrombie appointed lieutenant governor schatz. before he died inouye named her as his successor. we've been telling you about the brutal weather delays at airports all over the country. it is so bad the pilots are getting fed up including one who was caught on tape throwing his co-workers under the proverbial fuselage in dallas. cnn affiliate wfaa reports one

american airlines flight stranded at the gate for nearly five hours prompting this unusual apology from the pilot to his passengers. >> it's beyond reproach. i have no words to tell you how sorry i am for all of this. decisions are being made way above our heads and by people that obviously, in my humble opinion, don't have a clue what they're doing. >> such honesty. >> love it. >> american airlines by the way saying operating safely is their chief focus, naturally they're saying that but -- >> with all due respect he was throwing not his co-workers but his bosses under the bus which is a very different thing. >> potential safety hazard of pulling that plane back to the gate or not, it's nonsense when airlines say this. good on this guy, i hope he gets not an ounce of discipline. if you do, let us know at cnn.

good for him. >> tell them how you really feel. >> they used to waste everybody's time and they put the fines in, it messed nothing up and planes take off on time. just five days left until we hit the fiscal cliff. what happens to your bottom line if you do? january 1st all the bush tax cuts will expire, all of them with taxes going up an average of $1,600 per household. the payroll tax holiday also expires, that means the tax burden will rise an average of $700 per household. extended unemployment benefits, the ones we were talking about with lisa expire, so collection of unemployment benefits will shrink from 79 or 99 weeks back to 26 weeks in six months. the medicare doc fix expires, a 27% cut in physician payments and the alternative minimum tax will expand to 27 million more

americans for whom it was not intended. obama care taxes hit, a 0.9% jump in medicare payroll taxes for those earning $200,000 or more, that is likely to happen regardless of whether or not there's any fix. i bring in senator richard blumenthal, a democrat from connecticut. thanks for joining us. we have five days to go. you think we'll get a deal. >> i'm hopeful. there's sufficient time to reach a deal if we use the common ground we have and that common ground is nobody wants to go over the fiscal cliff. nobody wants the 98% of americans who will see their taxes rise hugely those people earning less than $250,000, and we can avoid that kind of tax increase if we seek that common ground, and come together around the concept, in fact the senate bill that was sent to the house some time ago, all the house has to do is come back to washington as we are doing today and vote

on that bill, it coulden done by a bipartisan majority. >> that's the big question, can it? we keep talking about the meetings betweenby ma and boehner, one of which hasn't happened in a few days but it really isn't a deal between obama and boehner. those two guys say what they want, boehner goes back to his caucus and can't get a deal. >> that's why a bipartisan majority is absolutely necessary, if the senate bill is brought to a vote on the house floor, it will be passed by a majority of democrats and some republicans, but the speaker wasted last week on a bill that had no prospect of success, in fact never even was brought to a vote and now we're down to the last few days. the deal to extend these tax cuts on everyone's first $250,000 of income, remember it's benefits people who earn more than $250,000 because it

extends tax cuts on their first $250,000. so somebody earning $300,000 or $350,000 in connecticut will benefit from it. >> senator, ron brownstein wants to ask a question. >> let me play devil's advocate when the tax cuts were passed in 2001 virtually every democrat in the house and senate voted against them. why do you think it's appropriate to permanently extend the bush tax cuts for families under $250,000, in the long run, do you believe at a time when the number of seniors is going to double over the next 30 years with all the budget pressures that implies that the government can be funded making the bush tax cuts permanent on people making $250,000 or less? >> key question. the answer is we're in an economy now that is fragile, still recovering all too slowly. these tax cuts must be extended for the middle class. we need to protect the middle class from that huge -- >> permanently extend them? >> i would extend them permanently because i think that they will in effect restore the

clinton tax levels. >> only for people at the top. only for the top. restore the clinton tax levels only at the top, right? you're making permanent the bush tax cuts that virtually all democrats opposed in the first place. >> and there are other ways that we need to explore that would involve raising revenue, which i think is the other part of your question. >> yes. >> closing those loopholes, for example, the tax breaks for companies that send jobs overseas, closing some of the other tax breaks and credits is again common ground that we need to explore in the longer run, but right now, what needs to happen is to extend those tax cuts for households earning less than $250,000 a year or to put it more accurately, to extend those tax cuts on the first $250,000 that everybody makes. >> so if i could, ron, i'm clear the president still has a deal sitting out there he's offered that would extend the tax rates

for anyone making under 400 and make adjustments for social security. i'm wondering if the senator is backing away from that as well. are you and the democrats in the senate suggesting you're not interested in. you're only interested in the bill that extends tax rates for those under $250,000? >> i'm not going to speculate on what all the parameters and permutations and other kinds of details might be on a deal that we haven't even seen yet. right now what we know for sure is this fiscal cliff can be avoided. everybody wants to avoid it, by extending those tax cuts on the first $250,000 that every household makes. that's the senate bill with a couple additional benefits that's before the house of representatives, john boehner should bring it to the floor for a vote. >> senator blumenthal, thank you very much for being with us, senator richard blumenthal of connecticut. ron you make an interesting point. if you project the u.s. budget out to 2020, the biggest single

part of it will be the bush tax cuts so i'm not sure this business of making it permanent will make sense. >> it's hard to believe the democrats can fund the government activism they want at the time when seniors go from 40 million to 80 million. it's an extraordinary victory for republicans that that is the framework of debate now whether you're extending it for everybody or just 250 and below when virtually every democrat voted against it a decade ago. >> we have to give serious thought that taxes are going up for a short time. >> that part i think the democrats deserve some blame for. you got to get some specifics. all the low-hanging fruit is gone on this. it's going to hurt. >> really hard to reduce spending overall when the number of seniors is doubling in the next 30 years. >> it's a big discussion. if we were left to solve it we probably could. coming up a day at the office with the oracle of omaha,

why warren buffett doesn't use e-mail ever and how he takes action when everyone else is in panic mode. you'll want to see this. what? customers didn't like it. so why do banks do it? hello? hello?! if your bank doesn't let you talk to a real person 24/7, you need an ally. hello? ally bank.

the oracle of omaha is one of the best investors of all-time but you wouldn't know that by the looks of warren buffett's office. poppy harlow took a tour of the place. he is a low key fellow. >> he is in all respects. this was a very neat experience to tour around his office. this is after we had a long interview with him a few weeks ago and what we found and actually what we didn't find might surprise you. >> well i've been in this building 50 years, they've moved me around a little bit. >> reporter: history on the walls of warren buffett's office. >> i formed my first partnership in may of 1956 so this was the year end balance sheet which i typed myself, probably find a tu

few typos and these were my partners, my father-in-law, my roommate in college, his mother, aunt alice, my sister doris and her husband, truman and that was the gang. >> and you. >> if they kept the $10,000 investment and i liquidated the partnership, reinvested that in berkshire hathaway, they would now have about $500 million. i did very well with small amounts of money back in 1964, and when the panic happens with a really good company i like to buy. >> reporter: buffett's m.o. for investing, this "new york times" article reminds him of an important lesson. >> we always have lots of money and never borrow a lot of money. first campaign i got really active in was when i was 10 years old in 1940 and wilke was running against roosevelt. my dad thought if roosevelt got elected there'd never be another

election. >> reporter: a vocal republican in his earlier years, he now leans left and a big obama supporter. >> i brought along figures i thought would be of interest to him, that was when i got the presidential medal of freedom. >> reporter: he's never had political ambitions like his father. >> that's my dad's campaign picture when he was 39 years old running for congress in 1942. this is my dad's desk, this sat on his desk when i was a kid, when i was 10 years old. i always admired it. >> reporter: i love this, the too hard box. >> there's a lot of things that belong in there. the real problem is if they belong in there and i don't realize it. >> reporter: then the model mars rover given to him by opportunities at caltech. >> that beats getting a t shirt. >> reporter: and the mock "sports illustrated" cover. >> they'll bring me out as water

boy. >> reporter: no e-mail, perhaps the secret to buffett's success. i am convinced no e-mail is the secret to his success. >> who is tweeting while you're talking here? >> the amount of time you save and the lack of distraction but again look at that office, it was a modest office, and -- >> very frugal. >> yes, he gives a lot of money away. >> he does. >> less than 20 people work in the office. there's the typical water fountain chatter, i walked by his two major investment guys wearing casual clothes, there's a soda machine, of course it has coke products in it because they're big investors in coca-cola. few cool things, this 1901 "new york times" article, i asked him about it. i said why do you look at that every day. he said this article is about a guy that made a very risky investment, had a margin call and jumped in a hot vat of beer and killed himself so i never take big risks, and then he has this model wells fargo stage coach as well and they own more

than 400 million shares in that bank so he says i think i'll get a little bit more out of it than a staining coach and he has the baseball jersey, a-rod jersey. he loves stand museil who got the presidential medal of honor. >> a-rod, lebron, a lot of athletes go to him for advice. >> lebron and warren e-mail back and forth and he gives him advice. >> the secretary tells him the answer. >> good story thank you, poppy. just ahead, a local paper gets a lot of people angry by publishing the names and addresses of registered gun owners. now one blogger strikes back, he joins us when we come back.

welcome back. we have this just in to cnn, egypt's state prosecutor ordered imprisoned former dictator hosni mubarek transferred to a military hospital. the 84-year-old mubarak has been quite ill for some time. we are following this developing story. panic sends people running through a sacramento mall after police say a 20-person brawl broke out in the food court. three teens were arrested. no reason why, but stores did go into lockdown just in case. the mall reopened about one hour later. d.c. prosecutors are being tight-lipped about whether they will charge nbc's david gregory

for showing off a high capacity ammunition magazine on "meet the press." gregory used that magazine as a prop during an interview with the head of the nra, wayne lapierre but it's illegal to show them in public in washington even if they're not attached to a weapon. d.c. police says nbc asked if they could use the magazine on the show. they said no, but gregory did it anyway. >> interesting. >> gotten a lot of attention. >> quick show of hands, the newspaper, that published the name of the addresses of people with gun permits. thumbs up, yes or no? good idea or bad idea? >> bad. >> on balance bad. >> you probably heard about this, a lot of outrage. one blogger decided to fight back, you wonder whether that's a good or bad idea as well, when we come back. nts that pink cast. and you really don't want to pay more than you have to. only citi price rewind

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point." alina cho has a look at today's top stories. >> good morning ali and everybody. the outlook not so good, pennsylvania, new york, massachusetts, new hampshire, vermont and maine all under winter storm warnings. look at that radar there, all of that white across the country, up to 18 inches of snow or more expected to fall on parts of new england today. more than 1,700 flights had to be canceled just yesterday because of the weather, and more than 200 more today have already been canceled. doctors say two firefighters shot on christmas eve are improving and now starting physical therapy. police say a gunman set fire as a trap, and then ambushed joseph ho hoffstetter and theodore scardino. we spoke to the webster fire marshal earlier this morning and he said it's hard to believe what happened. >> after 9/11, we trained to be

alert for secondary devices that were aimed at the first responders, but never, never would anybody have thought that somebody would have been waiting for the firemen as they came around the corner, barely even out of their rig yet. the rig continued moving and crashed into an embankment in front of the scene. it's just something that's been very difficult to come to terms with. >> the two injured firefighters put out this statement, "we are humbled and a bit overwhelmed by the outpouring of well wishes for us and our families. like so many others, our thoughts and prayers are with the families of michael chiapperini and tomasz caczowka and those who lost their homes. let me explain this, two companies christian themed

bookstores argued requiring health plans to cover contraception violates religious beliefs. sotomayor said the companies didn't qualify for an injunction while they challenged the requirement in court. she did not rule on the company's religious based claims. the fbi considered the occupy wall street movement a potential threat so much so they had counterterrorism agents from alaska to florida keeping watch. newly released documents show the bureau was in touch with police businesses and universities even before all of those demonstrators set up in new york's zuccotti park last year. you had to guess that was happening. >> i guess there's shades about the fbi investigating groups like that, so i have a different perspective on that historically. >> we will come back to that. right now i want to get your perspective on this particular story outrage is growing over this morning, over a newspaper's decision to publish a map

pinpointing the addresses of people with gun permits. now this was published by "the journal news" which is based in white plains, new york, just north of new york city. it shows homes where public records indicate someone living there holds a gun permit. that was part of an article called "the gun owner next door." the newspaper says they got the information from public records and it has readers online furious, including one blogger who decided to strike back by posting the home addresses of most of the leadership and staff of the newspapers the journal-news." that blogger is christopher fountain, his blog "for what it's worth" can be found at christopherfountain.wordpress. com. we reached out to the editors and the publisher and some of the people you named to invite them on to the show. they issued a statement, the publisher janet hassan said "one of our roles is to report publicly available information on timely issues, even when

unpopular. we knew publication of the database, as well as the accompanying article providing context, would be controversial, but we felt sharing information about gun permits in our area was important in the aftermath of the newton shootings." that is from janet hasson, president of journal news media group. chris you are a gun owner. >> i am. >> what caused you to do this? why did you publish the names of people from the newspaper? >> i've never liked bullies. i thought she was bullying gun owners by conflate iing new yor westchester county gun owners with a horrible incident in newtown, connecticut, one has nothing to do with the other. i thought i had initially printed, published the publisher, the reporter and the editor's home addresses. >> you ended up publishing the sports editor. >> i looked them up and fell free, yes. >> can i walk through, your

objection to them publishing it was an invasion of privacy? >> that and they initially defended it as for the safety of the children that you would know. well for heaven's sakes, 580 times more children drown in swimming pools. >> if you felt it was invasion of privacy for them to publish the addresses. why is the response to do the same thing yourself? why does the end justify these means? how is it different than what they did? >> it's a logical fallacy i agree to say you did it, too. on the other hand, frankly, i'm not a big fan of the media and i felt they were using this to harass gun owners, solely to harass gun owners so i harassed them back. >> so you're not a big fan of the media, why sit here in the media and talk about it? >> in the hope that i can provide my side of a gun owner's perspective. >> so you like the media when it

benefits you. >> you invited me, sir. >> i'm asking. if you don't like something then you still do it, the same point ron is making if you don't like the invasion of privacy when it comes to who owns guns but you're publishing. you're saying one thing but do another. >> i'm a writer, a publisher. my name and photograph are right on my blog. they can contact me, my cell phone number is there. >> what kind of reaction have you had? >> about 99% positive but given the readership of my blog. >> isn't that kind of where we are? look at everything that's happening whether it's the reaction to the newtown shooting, the fiscal cliff, essentially it's not surprising that 99% of your bloggers support. we're sigh lowing into different americas that are increasingly unwilling to make accommodations with each other. what i wonder about this, it's part of the general escalation of political combat we see on every front. you don't like what they did, you go back and do it yourself. does this lead us any closer to

having somen could consensus on what to do about guns? >> the media has been harassing and exposing personal details of people for a long time so i don't believe i'm escalating. i believe i'm punching back if you will. >> you have had comments posted to your blog you won't approve because they suggest retribut n retribution. we saw on another website, a quote "they" the journalists, "should watch when they step outside if they see a red spot on their clothing. are you worried about? >> the ones i took "why don't you publish the names of their children?" i'm not going there. i do have some limits. i felt some of the comments were going down -- my original point in posting this was to just show those particular reporters and the publisher what it feels like. >> the central question in this entire story is why and to be

honest i don't know the question why you would have published the addresses but i certainly don't know why "the journal-news" would have published the addresses of legal gun permit owners. i just don't know why, when they sat in the editorial meeting i'd love to know from janet hasson whose statement does not give me an answer why they decided to publish this. >> chris suggested he thinks they're equating legal gun permit holders with the person who perpetrated the tragedy in newtown. they haven't said that. they just want you to know there's somebody with a gun in your neighborhood. >> and published it eight days after the newtown tragedy and hadn't thought of it before. >> there's a larger debate about gun control going on in this country which we're all glad for, isn't this just part of a larger gun, like why do you think it's about specifically equating it to the person who perpetrated the tragedy as opposed to hey, here are all the guns in your neighborhood. >> because if they wanted to, they could have said hey, there are 2,454 gun permit owners

without publishing the names and addresses of those people. i got calls and comments from abused women who were in hiding from their husband who have now -- retired new york city police detective who said, christmas eve already received five death threats. >> legal permit holders, the newspaper chose to publish their name and home address. >> what do you hope to come out of this chris, other than the discussion we're having? >> really that's about it. >> did you ever think this would have gotten this much attention? >> i have a little blog about greenwich real estate and suddenly i have 120,000. >> people are intrigued by the issue. chris fountain a blogger from connecticut. coming up on "starting point" he's known for being shirtless all the time. matthew mcconaughey is teaching others to keep fit.

alina cho's conversation with him on getting fit. and the grinch from the new musical version joins us live. there is he. look at that. [ woman ] ring. ring. progresso. i just served my mother-in-law your chicken noodle soup but she loved it so much... i told her it was homemade. everyone tells a little white lie now and then. but now she wants my recipe [ clears his throat ] [ softly ] she's right behind me isn't she? [ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup.

it's a fact a lot of people don't know but alina and i used to share an office. that's not me and alina always tried to get me to eat better so that i could look like that but i don't so this is how she rubs

it in. you've seen him shirtless all the time, usually on a beach. matthew mcconaughey is more than just a stellar pack of abs, alina. alina is with her series "big stars, big giving." alina, rub it in. >> i didn't look at him at all like that, it was all about his foundation, a very, attractive man, but let's talk about that, because you know, if you think about it, when you think about charity, there really are a million ways you can help and a lot of stars do give back. what was interesting about matthew mcconaughey when it comes to philanthropy he wanted his hands in the clay so a couple of years ago he started his own foundation, helping kids live healthier lives. we sat down recently in los angeles to talk about that and also about the one thing everyone's been buzzing about lately, his dramatic weight loss. >> i go i want something

philanthropic or charitable, something i need to follow, build and track. >> matthew mcconaughey, movie star. >> hi, i'm benjamin. >> amy. >> reporter: started to think how he could give back. >> i want to find a place where i can help out where it's prevention before you need a cure so that also then obviously led to the kids. >> 30 more seconds to warm up. >> reporter: it led him to high schoolers. >> my freshman year in high school a little odd because you've coming from being the big dog in eighth grade. >> reporter: let him and his wife to start the j.k. living foundation. >> just keep livin, life is a verb. >> reporter: it doesn't just provide support to existing programs, it created and funds its own afterschool curriculum in 14 schools with high poverty

rates nationwide. >> break a sweat. learn to eat healthy, and say thank you. that's sort of the three monikers. >> reporter: the kids meet twice a week, two hours a day, like 16-year-old esperanza ortega. >> we have our monthly goals, i say i'll lose five pounds and when i lost five pounds, i felt great. >> reporter: and jeffrey ginn. >> working out it's a great stress reliever. it takes off the pain, takes your mind off of a lot of things that happen during the week. >> if you can get them there and start good habits that maybe they didn't have or get them to maintain the good habits they already had, they have a better chance of carrying them over. >> reporter: there's the gratitude circle. >> i'm thankful for my best friends i've had for five years. >> for the opportunity to pursue a college education. >> reporter: besides the obvious, what is the real value in doing that, do you think? >> reciprocity. the things that we show gratitude for, the things that we are thankful for. it creates more things to be

thankful for. >> reporter: like his success as an actor. >> i think i see a lot of law breakers up in this house. >> reporter: which leads us to that dramatic weight loss. >> i'm the lightest i've been since i was, i don't know, eight grade or something. >> reporter: 38 pounds. the new film "dallas buyers club" he plays an aids patient, a working actor with worldwide fame and a conscience. >> i've got things, i'm one of the haves. there are a lot of have nots. we're giving the proverbial fishing rod instead of a fish to a lot of these kids and thankfully they're taking it and they're using it and they're coming back and customizing it in their own life. that definitely feels good. >> and for more on matthew mcconme's j.k. livin foundation, how you can help, go to cnn.com/impact. the 38 pounds he lost told me 90% diet. ali velshi. >> thanks for rubbing that in.

coming up, maybe he's not so mean after all, we've got the grinch here live in the house. ♪ o. i'm going to dream about that steak. i'm going to dream about that tiramisu. what a night, huh? but, um, can the test drive be over now? head back to the dealership? [ male announcer ] it's practically yours. but we still need your signature. volkswagen sign then drive is back. and it's never been easier to get a passat. that's the power of german engineering. get $0 down, $0 due at signing, $0 deposit, and $0 first month's payment on any new volkswagen. visit vwdealer.com today. share brotherly love. share one up's.

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♪ you're a rotter, mr. grinch, you're the king of -- ♪ from the 1966 cartoon to a brand new musical the grinch's heart has warmed over the years and spreading holiday cheer and helping kids in the process teaming up with the non-profit garden of dreams foundation which has helped more than

200,000 children and their families since its inception in 2006, including most recently kids hit hard by superstorm sandy. we have the grinch with us, along with 12-year-old tyler, you are noel, miles over there, and kennedy. welcome to all of you. good to see you all and grinch, good to have you here. >> thank you, a pleasure to be here. >> you talk like that all the time? >> oh, yes i do. >> excellent. these kids are all local, from around the area. >> yes. >> you're from? >> hooville. >> of course you are. tell me about this foundation and what you've done with it. >> this foundation is incredible with madison square garden, the garden of dreams foundation is working to create experiences and dreams for children facing obstacles in their lives, whether it be a book drive or appearances with celebrities such as yours truly, we create dreams. >> we appreciate that. noel, you faced some obstacles in your life. do you mind if i tell our viewers about some of them? >> no, i don't mind.

>> you have dealt with rheumatoid arthritis, gau coma and uvitis and turret's syndr e syndrome. >> this has given me so many opportunities that you only you know like you only think about in your dreams, so it's such an amazing opportunity to get all of these exciting things happen in your life. >> what are some of the exciting things? >> well recently, about a month ago, i sang at a knicks game at madison square garden. >> excellent. how about you, tyler, what are some of the things that you, i know you've been battling liver disease as well. >> yes. actually got my liver transplant about a year and a half ago. >> how is that coming? >> great. >> excellent, what has this done for you? >> they've done everything for me. i performed at madison square garden theater, performed at radio city, myself being a big sports fan i've been to knicks

games, i've announced p.a. at ranger games, sat courtside. >> wow. >> they do everything that if, you know, normal people can't do. i met the emcee, i've done all this amazing stuff. >> you have been on tv before? obviously with the things you've done you've been on before. >> yes, and i love doing it because i love getting the word out there and spreading what they do. >> that's excellent. hey, miles, sorry, i didn't mean to distract you. this is your first time on tv for sure. you're very interested, very busy. >> yes. >> what do you think about being on tv, you like it? >> it's okay. >> it's okay? you're breaking my heart! what do you mean it's okay. i worked all my life to do this. >> he's not getting paid. >> but he's not getting paid for it, that's what roland says. what do you get out of this? >> well i get out of this bravery, fun and also time to be

famous. >> time to be famous there you go and kennedy welcome to you. you look like you're having a good time. are you enjoying it? you're a little shy? you're not shy? tell us what you love about it. >> i love that i am meeting new people and -- >> you look like you're going to give him one. great to see you all. thank you all for being here and sharing your experiences with us. we wish you continued good luck and thank you, grinch. you're much nicer than they say. >> thank you. >> you have warmed up. >> absolutely, it's christmas, i brought those gifts back. >> i love it. all right, that is it for us. we thank you, we want to thank will cain, roland martin, ron brownstein, alina cho, they will all be back with me tomorrow starting at 7:00 a.m. eastern in the cnn newsroom. we're going to carol costello, good morning.

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